Database Users

Removing encryption on Galaxy Tab

I encrypted my 10.1 yesterday without thinking all the way though. I found out that I could no longer flash kernels while the tablet is encrypted, since the SD card is not accessible in CWR.
I've tried doing a factory reset on my tab and each time, it boots up like nothing happened. I've also tried removing the pin that I put on it and the option to remove it is grayed out.
Do any of you know of a way to do a full wipe on the 10.1? Or could I reflash it using ODIN?
Thanks in advance.

id like to know this as well

still nothing? im starting to think this is an easy fix that nobody has posted about yet

there has to be something that im missing

try post # 6 in the linked thread, restore with unmodified vanilla version image from second link provided in the post, after booting from fastboot into recovery with clockworkmod recovery img; pushing it into the device sd with adb commandline, check the post for modifications and the link for details.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1161325

whenever i try to reset to factory defaults, it just reboots like nothing happened

re-flash a stock firmware via odin as tar or fastboot/nandroid as img (backup restore)

Ones the tab is encrypted, there's no way to un do it. Unless you do what mughalgxt suggested. Good luck

Thanks guys, I went through some of these steps and found some other good tutorials to get me back up and running. All i wanted was to try the new kernel/bonsai rom out and I'm now able to do that
**** encryption, put a lockscreen password and be done with it.

I'm still struggling with this, as well: off to read some of the linked threads, because even with flashing a stock image with ODIN I'm still not able to recover the device. At least I managed to proceed past the boot loop I WAS in (when attempting to flash from CWM) - but now, I can get to the point where the device prompts me for the decryption key (meaning, it's clearly not yet restored to factory defaults) - but can't get it boot to completion. I also note that I've still got CWM Recovery, not stock.
It seems, at some point, encryption-key be damned, right? Meaning, if I don't care about recovering the contents of the encrypted partition - surely these low-level tools have the ability to simply format the partitions? Perhaps not - at least, not CWM - as attempts to format /data continue to fail.
Off to review the linked threads to try to gain some additional insight.

I ran into this same issue a long while back. As I recall (and it's been a while), you won't be able to wipe from CWM, but you can wipe from Settings / Privacy / Factory Data Reset. I could be wrong, but I know that I didn't have to do any adb pushing or anything with special images.

Hi SacTilt-
Thanks for the reply - and agreed: Had I actively started the effort from a functioning device, I think I could have selected that option.
As it turns out - I ran CWM, rebooted into recovery, and... next thing I knew, I was in boot loop hell.
I've tried flashing a variety of files via ODIN: Some at least allow the device to boot to the point where I get the initial password prompt - which I can provide, and proceed past... but then the device just 'goes blank'.
What I'm looking for is a 'start-from-scratch', no concern for data loss, delete the dang encrypted /data folder already, will ya?... approach.
As I've mentioned, a variety of ODIN files from a myriad of sources haven't seemed to quite do the trick. I feel like I'm missing something obvious - but can't find the right angle to spot it.
Perhaps fastboot might be what I'm looking for?
FWIW: the device was rooted when I started, so I've got full Titanium backups, with which I can restore, once I recover the actual device / OS.
Thanks for any insight.

Hey guys...if anybody finds a solution to this, please let me know...I am stuck with this same damn experimental ROM I've had from day one...it's getting really old. All I want is to get rid of this stupid encryption. Thanks for any help. Tried ODIN flashing, wiping data from security screen, wiping from CMR, etc.

Have you tried formatting the sd? Whenever i had my ns4g i accidentially did the same thing and i wiped the SD and it removed the encryption.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app

Factory data reset in CM7??

I have CM7 on the sd card. If I choose "factory data reset", will it just remove anything I have added, or will it wipe out any of CM7? I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question.

kat3k said:
I have CM7 on the sd card. If I choose "factory data reset", will it just remove anything I have added, or will it wipe out any of CM7? I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know why you want to do that but just pull the card first.....

I don't want to remove CM7 but I want to remove my data and especially my gmail account, which from all other posts and what I can find online, and everything I have tried so far, is pretty much locked in.

I'm never aware of the "factory reset" of CM7.
Does it have one?
Factory reset is for the stock ROM from B&N, nothing to do with CM7 since it's a custom ROM that you're running.
Moreover, you're booting it off the external uSD card.

That's what I'm trying to find out. I'm afraid the "factory reset" would wipe out CM7. And I have seen suggestions to reflash the rom, but it was a very big deal for me to do it the first time, and I would rather not start over.

Hold off a bit.
The "factory reset" you said, might be the other name of "wipe data" in CwM.
If yes, it won't hurt your OS (ROM) but it will wipe all your data info on the device.

Ok, now I am quite confused after reading your other threads. Maybe you should just stick to one.
If you want to wipe the data on the stock ROM, just pull the card and do a factory reset. If you want to wipe it on the CM7 card boot into CWR on the card and wipe the data. Reflashing the ROM will not wipe it anyway unless you also wipe the data so it would not help anyway.

patruns said:
Ok, now I am quite confused after reading your other threads. Maybe you should just stick to one.
If you want to wipe the data on the stock ROM, just pull the card and do a factory reset. If you want to wipe it on the CM7 card boot into CWR on the card and wipe the data. Reflashing the ROM will not wipe it anyway unless you also wipe the data so it would not help anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, I should have stuck to just one, but got a little desperate, and thought I had more than one issue. Everything had worked perfectly until I started removing data and clearing caches, and trouble started.
I assume CWR is the "recovery" option on reboot? I did select that, but nothing appeared to happen, went black and then I had to restart it.
Thanks very much though. You have told me exactly what I wanted to know. Reflashing does not remove data, and booting into CWR does. There was also the option of going into settings and restoring to factory default. What would have happened to CM7 if I had done that?

What would have happened to CM7 if I had done that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably nothing because that resets the internal flash memory to stock and you have CM7 sitting on a card. Definitely nothing if you pull the card first.

Reflashing does not remove data, and booting into CWR does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Booting into CwM R does NOT remove your data.
It waits for you command to wipe it and you do if you intend to, otherwise, nothing happens.

votinh said:
Booting into CwM R does NOT remove your data.
It waits for you command to wipe it and you do if you intend to, otherwise, nothing happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for clarifying. So is booting into "CwM R" the "recovery" option on the reboot menu?

[Q] Phone Constantly Locks - Which Service is Responsible?

I used Titanium Backup to uninstall certain packages (not before backing them up, of course) and it seems that I uninstalled too much... Whenever I start certain applications, the phone immediately blanks - and locks.
I have to press the power button 1-2 times before the screen unlock allows me to seep my finger. And it doesn't always succeed in retaining the screen: too often, it will immediately blank and lock again.
Example of applications that make the phone lock: Titanium Backup.
Example of applications that don't blank the phone: Dialer.
I started restoring some of the packages I uninstalled yesterday with the hope that this will fix the problem. So far I tried restoring:
- hiddenmenus
- sns
- Dialer 2.2.2
-setup wizard
- syncMLsvc
But without much success yet.
Any idea which service or package are responsible for correct behavior of the phone?
UPDATE 2: I gave up and decided to flash the EC07-Nuckin-1 ROM. I repeated the entire procedure detailed here and the phone boots fine, but the problem persists - in addition to the fact that the soft menu buttons now disappeared (replaced by faint color dots - LED-like).
How could this happen? Is it possible that my phone contracted an Android virus? (it appears that the problem started immediately after installing Stay Awake from the Android Market.

OK, this is becoming insane: I did a factory reset, re-installed ec07-clean, and not only the problem persists, the settings, home, back and search buttons no longer work!
Not to mention that my account details (and everything else) are still there, even after the factory reset...
And Market won't even start.
How is this possible?
What do I do to simply start from scratch, wiping out everything and all history (except for the SD card)?

verizonless said:
OK, this is becoming insane: I did a factory reset, re-installed ec07-clean, and not only the problem persists, the settings, home, back and search buttons no longer work!
Not to mention that my account details (and everything else) are still there, even after the factory reset...
How is this possible?
What do I do to simply start from scratch, wiping out everything and all history (except for the SD card)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
those softkey mod (led dots) are in the rom, look at what ur downloading/flashing first.
did u clear caches/dalvik??? clear them before u flash ec07clean and after and see buddy.

ciscogee said:
did u clear caches/dalvik??? clear them before u flash ec07clean
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course I did.
ciscogee said:
and after
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After, too? I didn't know that.
ciscogee said:
and see buddy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who is buddy?
ciscogee said:
those softkey mod (led dots) are in the rom, look at what ur downloading/flashing first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, but they don't respond. Even with your ec07-clean.
Is there a way to do a real factory reset? Start all over again? This problem is driving me nuts.
Thank you ciscogee, you life saver.

Ur buddy lol.
I'm out and about right now. In joshkoss rom thread there is a dl17 stock rom. If u flollow that second post I believe u will achieve 2. 1 stock as in out the box and flash up from there
Sent from my SCH-I400 using xda premium

ciscogee said:
I'm out and about right now. In joshkoss rom thread there is a dl17 stock rom. If u flollow that second post I believe u will achieve 2. 1 stock as in out the box and flash up from there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really interested in 2.1. I just don't understand why a total re-install of ec07clean.zip + ec07.tar + update.zip won't restore everything to "brand new condition". Surely there is a way to tell the phone to "forget all history". But what is it?
In the meanwhile, I managed to make the Settings (leftmost) button work, by manually restoring SDM from Titanium Backup.
Android Market now starts. But the SCREEN OFF problem persists. I am now beginning to believe that Stay Awake actually caused a permanent damage.

verizonless said:
I'm not really interested in 2.1. I just don't understand why a total re-install of ec07clean.zip + ec07.tar + update.zip won't restore everything to "brand new condition". Surely there is a way to tell the phone to "forget all history". But what is it?
In the meanwhile, I managed to make the Settings (leftmost) button work, by manually restoring SDM from Titanium Backup.
Android Market now starts. But the SCREEN OFF problem persists. I am now beginning to believe that Stay Awake actually caused a permanent damage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i understand, but see dl17 is the latest official samsung/verizon release, so what ever you erased will be brought back. the roms that are released here are leaks/hacked so they wouldnt be 100% until tweaked

ciscogee said:
i understand, but see dl17 is the latest official samsung/verizon release, so what ever you erased will be brought back. the roms that are released here are leaks/hacked so they wouldnt be 100% until tweaked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that they aren't 100% and I am OK with that. All I want is bring the phone to that pristine state it was right after I upgraded it from DL17 to ec07clean.zip.
Is this possible at all?
I even tried the built in stock recovery 2e to do "factory restore". Didn't help.
Why doesn't it even delete my account information? This is weird.

Wipe all your data. Cache. Dalvik etc.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using xda premium

ciscogee said:
Wipe all your data. Cache. Dalvik etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this at least 4 times. It doesn't get rid of anything. That's really puzzling.
In the meanwhile, I managed to restore my phone to a usable state (i.e. get rid of the original screen-off problem). Here is how I did it:
Settings > Display Settings > Power saving mode: UNCHECK (was checked)
Settings > Display Settings > Screen timeout: 1 minute (non was selected!)
I bet this was some remanent of that Stay Awake app.
Now, I lost quite a few productivity hours due to this. But at least now I know that this phone will always be mine, because in this particular phone, "Factory data reset" simply doesn't work.

Have you thought about using a different version of clockwork for flashing and wiping? That usually helps or perhaps stock recovery even
Sent from my DROIDX using xda premium

verizonless said:
I tried this at least 4 times. It doesn't get rid of anything. That's really puzzling.
...
But at least now I know that this phone will always be mine, because in this particular phone, "Factory data reset" simply doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mystery solved!
It turns out that it is the cyan wipe that doesn't work. The red wipe works.
Here is what I did:
Settings > Privacy > Factory data reset (Erases all data on phone) > Reset phone > Erase everything attempt:
Progressed as expected, then rebooted -- right into Android System recover <2e> (blue!):
Code:
Samsung Recovery Utils
- for BML -
reboot system now
apply sdcard:update.zip
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
___________________________________________
-- Wiping data...
Formatting FOTA:...
FOTA wipe failed.
Formatting DATA:...
Data wipe failed.
Formatting CACHE:...
Cache wipe failed.
Formatting DBDATA:...
Db data wipe failed.
E: Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
(No such file or directy)
E: install_application_for_customer:Can't mount HIDDENSDCARD:
your storage not prepared yet. please use UI menu for format and reboot actions.
copy application failed.
As you can see, there were clear error messages, so now I selected "apply sdcard:update.zip" ==> which brought me you into CwM Voodo Lagfix Recovery v2.5.1.x:
Code:
wipe data/factory reset
-- Wiping data...
Formatting DATA:...
Formatting DATADATA:...
Formatting CACHE:...
Formatting SDEXT:...
Formatting SDCARD:/:.android_secure...
Data wipe complete.
wipe cache partition
-- Wiping cache...
Formatting CACHE:...
Cache wipe complete.
Advanced > Wipe Dalvik Cache
Dalvik Cache wiped
Reboot system now
Phone looks now brand new.
Oh wait! I just examined the SD card and it contains all the old stuff. Nothing wiped, nothing formatted. And the Home button doesn't work. And the ticker-feed button reboots the phone... What's going on???

Edit: Looking into what you said

[Q] anyway to get internal sd data off when stuck in bootloop?

@ mods i realised my mistake in posting this in the wrong section and posted in the right one but people are replying to this one......so please dont delete this just yet
I in my infinite wisdom tried to mod a file on my phone. I did a titanium backup 1st but forgot to move it to my external SD Doh!
So that went wrong and now I'm stuck in a boot loop with only the stock recovery screen. Need to install stock rom and adb not recognized. (Im sure ill figure that) but my main question is, is there some way to recover data from the internal "sd" memory?
I really appreciate any advice anyone can give

I am not sure if I understood your question.. if you have CWM then just access recovery mode and you will have an option to mount the SD and you will be able to access all your files via USB from your PC

?
I don't have cwm . Like I said I only have the stock recovery screens I.e factory reset and download mode.

Do a factory reset, it won't erase your data.

Not sure that would work. It says wipe user data and factory reset so surely it would wipe my data. Plus I don't think that'll work anyway as I changed a file which caused the boot loop so I don't think a factory reset will fix that file.

Androboyben said:
Not sure that would work. It says wipe user data and factory reset so surely it would wipe my data. Plus I don't think that'll work anyway as I changed a file which caused the boot loop so I don't think a factory reset will fix that file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what info are you trying to get off the device? the sms etc are stored on your data and will be wiped by a reinstall/factory reset
anything on the usb side for storage will not get touched

Factory reset wont clear anything on the internal_sd

thank you.....but
thanks for the replies peeps ill trust your knowledge (and have pressed the thanks button )
got a day off tomorrow so gonna try and get it up and running again,
Question though, being as i buggered up the stock rom wont flashing the new rom (when i figure out how) delete internal data either.
the reason im being carefull is i did some awesome illustrations (imo) for a childrens book im writing so hoping to save those.

Androboyben said:
thanks for the replies peeps ill trust your knowledge (and have pressed the thanks button )
got a day off tomorrow so gonna try and get it up and running again,
Question though, being as i buggered up the stock rom wont flashing the new rom (when i figure out how) delete internal data either.
the reason im being carefull is i did some awesome illustrations (imo) for a childrens book im writing so hoping to save those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it depends on if you use a wipe or non wipe rom, a non wipe wil lkeep qall the data stored on the android system intact but you might get bootloops if it doesnt replace the file you say you deleted

took the plunge......alls good
Richy99 said:
it depends on if you use a wipe or non wipe rom, a non wipe wil lkeep qall the data stored on the android system intact but you might get bootloops if it doesnt replace the file you say you deleted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Richy99, i took the plunge and followed nasgilani's guide to installing stock rom, i was supprised when it completed that even my home screens etc were as they were before (appart from widgets being blank) and glad to see "as you all said" my data intact.
i shall be more cautious before i start messing with mods next time

basically internal usb storage of 11gb will never be touched when you factory reset nor wil lanything on an external sd card
the only thing that gets wiped is the 1gb internal space for the rom and data on that partition such as sms/email etc

I know this is an old topic but I noticed it wasn't exactly answered.. I'm trying to send mine back to the factory for warranty because the power button no longer functions. I have the stock rom and recovery and I'm stuck in boot loop because I can't execute factory wipe with the power button. I'd like to pull my data off of the internal SD but am unable to fix the bootloop without forcing the wipe.

I know metter is over now, it was just ur worrying, otherwise wiping cache,wiping data from recovery , flashing stock rom (wipe/non wipe) nothing.will erase data on internal memory.
Just for knowledge
aroma file manager is available, which works from recovery, it can work even you device stucked, unable to boot..
Edit ; sometime you feel ashamed, just come to know this is 6month old topic
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

[Q] Stuck on the X logo, pls help...

Guys, its my first time to try to do some modding on Android and unfortunately Im stuck with a problem.
I did a good install with drivers, unlocked it successfully then installed TWRP 2.5 mako. after installing TWRP, I locked my phone again. Then I went to TWRP recovery then made a backup. After backup was complete, I was to reboot but was prompted something like "my device seemed not to be rooted. Do you like to install SU?" But I choose "dot not install" instead. Then it rebooted. Then the Google logo showed up longer than usual, then the X logo and was stuck on it from there. I waited till morning thinkin the phone might be configuring itself for the first time after all the things I have done but to my surprise, when I got up this morning, still on the X logo! I then tried to reset by pressing the power button for some seconds. It rebooted but same thing happens, google logo showed up for a longer time than usual then stuck again on the X logo. Then I tried fastboot, it did went to fastboot. Tried to reset bootloader, tried using TWRP reset system and reboot but still no success.
What do you think happenede and what did I do wrong? What should I do now to fix this.
Im really nervous now thinking I might have bricked my phone. Im a newbie so I really have no idea..
Hope you guys could help. Thanks!

Try clearing cache in twrp if that doesn't work flash the stock recovery and clear cache from there.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 4 Beta

El Daddy said:
Try clearing cache in twrp if that doesn't work flash the stock recovery and clear cache from there.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply. You mean using "Wipe" in twrp right? After choosing wipe, i was prompted with 2 button options and a swipe option. 1 button was "advance wipe", the other was "format data" and the swipe option was "swipe to factory reset" what should I use? It says "factory reset wipes data, cache and dalvik (not including internal storage). Most of the time this is the only wipe that you need." You mentioned to try to clear cache, do you mean to say the data and dalvic as well? If so then should I choose the swip option which is "factory reset"?
Thanks again..

Nope just the cache. This phone sometimes has issues when wiping data/cache from the bootloader. (Which is what happens when you unlock the bootloader) The way to fix the bootloop problem is to wipe cache using the stock recovery.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

vinz_bangiz said:
thanks for the reply. You mean using "Wipe" in twrp right? After choosing wipe, i was prompted with 2 button options and a swipe option. 1 button was "advance wipe", the other was "format data" and the swipe option was "swipe to factory reset" what should I use? It says "factory reset wipes data, cache and dalvik (not including internal storage). Most of the time this is the only wipe that you need." You mentioned to try to clear cache, do you mean to say the data and dalvic as well? If so then should I choose the swip option which is "factory reset"?
Thanks again..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try factory reset first if that doesn't work you may have to sideload a ROM onto it. The same thing happened to me a couple of times. Sometimes a factory reset worked but most of the time I ended up sideloading.

El Daddy said:
Nope just the cache. This phone sometimes has issues when wiping data/cache from the bootloader. (Which is what happens when you unlock the bootloader) The way to fix the bootloop problem is to wipe cache using the stock recovery.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so just to clear, i would not try anymore to clear cache via twrp or should i try it first before flashing stock recovery and clearing it from there? To be honest, im quite careful now in every move ill make coz Im afraid i might make matters worst.
Pls advice. thanks for your patience.
by the way, in case I would really need to flash stock rom, how to do it and where to get right stock recovery?
Thanks again!

All the info to flash recovery and resources are here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2010312
Basically, download the stock image. Extract the folder down til you see the recovery.img.
Then using fastboot type the command:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Then boot into recovery and clear cache.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

El Daddy said:
All the info to flash recovery and resources are here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2010312
Basically, download the stock image. Extract the folder down til you see the recovery.img.
Then using fastboot type the command:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Then boot into recovery and clear cache.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh ok. I understand now. Sorry, its my first time so im not that familiar yet on how things go. I did a lot of reading and browsing as well but xda sure is very overwhelming in information..
P41ll37 is suggesting sideload which I also am not yet familiar with. i tried to search it but most of it led to using a toolkit. I mentioned in another post that I made that I wanted to learn instead of jsut being able to fix my problems. Could you advice me as well or lead me to the right link to know how to do this.
Thanks!

Guys! before trying anything else, I tried to clear cache using TWRP and choosing advance then marked the delvic cache and cache then restarted system, was asked if I wanted to installed SU, this time I choose yes, it rebooted by itself, but still nothing happened. same stuck on X logo problem.
But then, I tried wipe again in TWRP this time choosing factory reset, then restarted system again, google logo did stay a longer but not as long as before, then X logo appeared and stayed there like forever but after a minute or so.. FINALLY! it went to the Welcome screen asking for what language I should use.
So i guess this means it is fixed already?
Also, since I choose to install SU a while ago, does this mean my phone is already rooted as well? How would I know? Well, maybe installing a root app like titanium backup should tell right?
If so, then looks like I have advanced already on my step by step learning to mod my phone. I was only in the unlocking and custom recovery part last night. Tonight was supposed to be rooting and putting custom rom but I was still trying to learn thru our forum guides.
I wana thank you guys for your time, kind help and suggestions. This was my first experience in modding and right away I was faced with a problem to be solved. This is good anyway as a learning experience.
One last thing, could you guys tell what really happend, how I went into this kind of problem or what caused it? As I mentioned, I was noping not only to mod or fix my phone but rather really learn on how to do or fix things. Like a difference between a toolkit and manually doing it. Right?
Thanks again guys!

vinz_bangiz said:
Guys! before trying anything else, I tried to clear cache using TWRP and choosing advance then marked the delvic cache and cache then restarted system, was asked if I wanted to installed SU, this time I choose yes, it rebooted by itself, but still nothing happened. same stuck on X logo problem.
But then, I tried wipe again in TWRP this time choosing factory reset, then restarted system again, google logo did stay a longer but not as long as before, then X logo appeared and stayed there like forever but after a minute or so.. FINALLY! it went to the Welcome screen asking for what language I should use.
So i guess this means it is fixed already?
Also, since I choose to install SU a while ago, does this mean my phone is already rooted as well? How would I know? Well, maybe installing a root app like titanium backup should tell right?
If so, then looks like I have advanced already on my step by step learning to mod my phone. I was only in the unlocking and custom recovery part last night. Tonight was supposed to be rooting and putting custom rom but I was still trying to learn thru our forum guides.
I wana thank you guys for your time, kind help and suggestions. This was my first experience in modding and right away I was faced with a problem to be solved. This is good anyway as a learning experience.
One last thing, could you guys tell what really happend, how I went into this kind of problem or what caused it? As I mentioned, I was noping not only to mod or fix my phone but rather really learn on how to do or fix things. Like a difference between a toolkit and manually doing it. Right?
Thanks again guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
basically whenever you flash a factory image (and perhaps even some custom ROMS) you have to do a factory reset for really two reasons. The first reason is to get it out of bootloop. For some reason whenever the phone is flashed it will go on endless loop until you boot into recovery and factory reset. Also, you will need to check your storage after you flash. The phone has a tendency to lose half its memory after a flash. Check storage and if at half memory do another factory wipe and you should be good to go.
The easiest way I do it is to simply reboot the phone after flashing the files, I then allow the phone to reboot and get stuck on the bootloop. I then hard shut the phone off by holding down power. Once shut down boot into fastboot and then fastboot boot TWRP recovery where I then wipe the phone. After it reboots it will stick on the X logo for a few minutes and get to the welcome screen. From there log in and get it set up again.
Also, this is where you should check storage. I notice that more often than not mine still is only half storage (despite my TWRP wipe), so I use the phone to factory reset and then when it reboots the phone has full storage again.
Im sure there is probably someone out there with a better system but that is how I do it.

thos25 said:
basically whenever you flash a factory image (and perhaps even some custom ROMS) you have to do a factory reset for really two reasons. The first reason is to get it out of bootloop. For some reason whenever the phone is flashed it will go on endless loop until you boot into recovery and factory reset. Also, you will need to check your storage after you flash. The phone has a tendency to lose half its memory after a flash. Check storage and if at half memory do another factory wipe and you should be good to go.
The easiest way I do it is to simply reboot the phone after flashing the files, I then allow the phone to reboot and get stuck on the bootloop. I then hard shut the phone off by holding down power. Once shut down boot into fastboot and then fastboot boot TWRP recovery where I then wipe the phone. After it reboots it will stick on the X logo for a few minutes and get to the welcome screen. From there log in and get it set up again.
Also, this is where you should check storage. I notice that more often than not mine still is only half storage (despite my TWRP wipe), so I use the phone to factory reset and then when it reboots the phone has full storage again.
Im sure there is probably someone out there with a better system but that is how I do it.
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Thanks for the reply. really very informative!
The easiest way I do it is to simply reboot the phone after flashing the files, I then allow the phone to reboot and get stuck on the bootloop. I then hard shut the phone off by holding down power. Once shut down boot into fastboot and then fastboot boot TWRP recovery where I then wipe the phone. After it reboots it will stick on the X logo for a few minutes and get to the welcome screen. From there log in and get it set up again.
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Actually, this is exactly what I did and the one that solved my problem.
Also, this is where you should check storage. I notice that more often than not mine still is only half storage (despite my TWRP wipe), so I use the phone to factory reset and then when it reboots the phone has full storage again.
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About this, are you referring to the remaining free storage or that actual usable storage of the phone. To my knowledge, a new 16gb nex4 would actually give you about 12+gb of free usuable space. Do you mean I should observe if this has dropped to about 6gb? or are you reffering to for example I have 5gb remaining free space before flashing and rebooting then after this I should observe if the "remaining free" space is now only around 2.5gb after rebooting it?
Looking forward to your clarification.. thanks again!